I didnt go to college or anything like that. Writing was always something I loved to do and I got really serious about in 2009, he said. Thats when I first started writing (Here Goes Nothing.) I got literally hundreds of rejections. In 2011, I got published through Cram (Publishing) and a poetry reading that I did in Chicago was sponsored by them.

Mr. Jones lives with his wife, Crystal, and stepson, Brian, and noted that while his mother and grandmother also enjoy writing he is the first member of his family to pursue publication.

This was my first collection of poetry that was published. In 2011, my poem Without You was published. It was a poem about how much I love poetry and how passionate I am. Poetry is the love of my life, other than my wife, he said. I also did short stories and tried my hand at playwrights in the past.

Two poems from his collection include One Day and Runaway.

Runaway is a message that you cant run from yourself. I feel that a lot of people do that and a lot of times people run right back into their problems, Mr. Jones said. One Day was about my passion for writing. If I dont anything else in this world, than I want to be remembered for my writing.

Much of the New York natives poetry focuses on personal experiences and social issues that he has observed.

A lot of (my poetry) is from life experiences, my imagination and things that I see wrong and right in the world. A lot of it is spiritually based as well, Mr. Jones said. Theres nothing that I generally target (with my writing.) There are so many different poems where I focus on suicide, racism, drunk driving, drug addictions and a lot of them are about life choices. They are about being careful with the decisions that you make.

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